Am I right in saying the first interview on Friday's coverage was a netballer interviewing the designer of the uniforms of the waitresses in the Qantas lounge? And wanting to see if he would be interested in designing some netball outfits.

my favourite trick was when i was living in dublin, where you could clearly pick up both the ITV coverage from belfast and the local RTE broadcast. you could switch from one to the other and avoid all ads as they weren't synchronised.

Because that can be looked at from the other direction. With all the new channels (ONE, GEM, MATE, GO, etc) there is now enough FTA to get us through without Foxtel. Couple that with Internet streaming as well as dirt cheap DVD TV season Box sets and Movies, and about 2 years ago I realised I was paying $1200 per year to watch the IRL.

fair enough the digital channels aren't enough for us and we're not into box sets, so cable for us.

i also think F1 would be ad-free on foxtel, like moto GP (and NRL / super rugby / test rugby). as discussed, the ads in nascar are a legacy of the US coverage.

That telecast was utterly disgraceful and I wasted a beautiful weekend watching their shite. Sitting in my lounge room with 4 other blokes and watching lara Bingle talk about fashion or something really rammed home how little OneHd understand or even care about motorsport fans.. I`m sure there were thouands of lounge rooms around the coutnry all thinking "wtf is this shite..."

And when that blonde breakfast show girl said on saturday afternoon "we`ve been working so hard today"... well, Im sorry love, but sitting on your arse all day interviewing complete tools is not working hard and pretty insulting to all those that do and then wanted to enjoy some motorsport on the weekend and insead had to put up with your stupid comments.

Even Channel 9 ( the masters of smug ) didnt treat their viewers with that kind of contempt.

...And my refusal to pay for tv is down to one main thing, the one thing that they cant provide me with ... Time. I dont have time to watch that much telly to justify paying for it. As it is I dont think I've ever watched the ONE pre race show.

Pay TV in Asia is no better than free to air TV in OZ. They still have a ridiculous amount of ads.
I wish they would give us the option to buy a live streaming package. I missed the Australian race because the hotel I was staying in did not have Star Sport.

That telecast was utterly disgraceful and I wasted a beautiful weekend watching their shite. Sitting in my lounge room with 4 other blokes and watching lara Bingle talk about fashion or something really rammed home how little OneHd understand or even care about motorsport fans.. I`m sure there were thouands of lounge rooms around the coutnry all thinking "wtf is this shite..."

And when that blonde breakfast show girl said on saturday afternoon "we`ve been working so hard today"... well, Im sorry love, but sitting on your arse all day interviewing complete tools is not working hard and pretty insulting to all those that do and then wanted to enjoy some motorsport on the weekend and insead had to put up with your stupid comments.

Even Channel 9 ( the masters of smug ) didnt treat their viewers with that kind of contempt.

Channel 9 at least showed stuff on track, like the Ultimate Speed Comparison, I am not sure if ONEHD showed it at all, but Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all had a race between a Mercedes AMG C63 Black Series, 888 V8 Supercar and last years McLaren mp4/26 was that aired? Channel 9 showed one in 2001 with the Williams, a BMW roadcar and Larry Perkins in the Castrol commodore, its a great spectacle and not once has ONE or TEN showed it I wonder if this year was different?

Channel 9 at least showed stuff on track, like the Ultimate Speed Comparison, I am not sure if ONEHD showed it at all, but Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all had a race between a Mercedes AMG C63 Black Series, 888 V8 Supercar and last years McLaren mp4/26 was that aired? Channel 9 showed one in 2001 with the Williams, a BMW roadcar and Larry Perkins in the Castrol commodore, its a great spectacle and not once has ONE or TEN showed it I wonder if this year was different?

They showed the V8's, Porsches, the Speed comparison and possibly the Renault megane/Red Bull race thingie (not sure because I missed it but they were talking about it during the V8 race). I didn't see or hear any reference to any other support races...

They showed the V8's, Porsches, the Speed comparison and possibly the Renault megane/Red Bull race thingie (not sure because I missed it but they were talking about it during the V8 race). I didn't see or hear any reference to any other support races...

Formula Ford, Shannons Historic Demonstration (85 Ferrari F1 car, Jonesies Williams, Jacks Brabham, and about 20 other old F1 cars ranging from the 60's down to the 30's) and then the Group A/C Touring cars. Skaife and Richos skyline that won bathurst, all the old beamers, Jags, commodores, Taranas etc Johnsons Falcons, Sierras, old RX7's etc you get the idea. Those were the other supporting categories that were well worth watching. The Historic demonstration was unbelievable, to hear those cars going around in anger, especially the Ferrari and the Williams. Oh and on Saturday they had the Ferrari 60th anniversary parade where each Ferrari road car from the 60's til now was in a train around track for a few laps.

The perennial issue returns again to F1 in Australia - that the broadcaster has a director/producer who has little idea of the sport they are broadcasting. An unprofessional coverage of the race, lacking in commonsense. The production meeting that preceded the race should have covered a plan for a safety car. Not running as much of the maximum 15/20 mins per hour of ads into that time, and then getting on with it, is beyond the comprehension of anyone who watched the race.

On a brighter note - great to see Darryl actually has a personality. He's gone from soporific - to loud and engaged. Pretty funny transition - but great to see.

Man the tweets from Bernietb are absolute classics, you can feel his pain.

I dunno about Foxtel, the sport may suffer and it may not but AUS still has a lot to offer on FTA so paying $90 a month for TV makes little sense right now. Over here EVERYONE has pay tv, FTA is virtually non existent. It's absolutely outrageous that i need to drop $60 a month and still get hammered with ads. They tweak the packages too in order to screw you. To get TSN i am effectively paying $10 a month because it's packaged with a bunch of shite i do not need.

Extra coverage is always welcome, but with the internet these days how much of it is worthwhile? If we are talking dedicated fans here (and that's the kind of people who will get Foxtel just for F1) surely almost everything in that extra coverage has already been discussed on this forum (and other F1 websites) well before hand.

It's not so much the discussion as the features. I agree that with all the sites for F1, a lot of information is easily at hand, but I'm still surprised when I pick up a copy of F1 Racing and there is content to read that's 'new' to me.

As a dedicated (nay, obsessed) fan, I know all about the tyres, the compounds, the degradation (I wish we could go back to A through D and be able to have mixed compounds), however, I still enjoyed watching Brundle pounding around the track last year to actually *show* and describe what's happening.

TEN/ONE have *complete* control over the timing - the feed they used to get from the BBC and now from SkySports has *no* adverts whatsoever. When Brundle said "the main stops are expected in about 7 laps", you'd have thought someone from TEN/ONE would pay attention. No, instead, we go to ads and miss button, vettel and hamilton pitting.

True. I always figured if I ever got Fox, I'd watch Disco and NatGeo and that's about it. But as you say, with ChannelBT available, I wouldn't watch anything on Fox other than F1 really.

What we really need is Bernie to pull his finger out and give us 720p streaming of sessions for a reasonable amount.

The race feed, that comes from FOM is not interrupted at all, which is sent to that broadcaster direct from them, not from the broadcaster, be it ITV, BBC or Sky Sports, that provides the commentary.

As many others here have accurately stated: Absolutely horrendous coverage. These people should be ashamed of themselves. This was supposed to be coverage of a MOTORSPORT weekend and instead of showing support races they're showing the Breakfast morons sitting around talking complete shit, interviewing other morons from Young Talent Time who have absolutely no idea whatsoever about F1 and would struggle to name 3 drivers in the field, then showing other random interviews with Australian "celebrities" who are just there to be seen and to remind everyone that they're still around and equally have no idea about F1, then the grid tart interviews who would be lucky to have the collective IQ of the ambient temperature at the track. All this when other support races could have been shown. Absolutely disgraceful but sadly, nothing new for the Australian GP coverage here. It seems I have A LOT of crap to cut out when I go through my recorder later on.

Oh nice! That's about the third time this week that I've been told I'm "not a real F1 fan/not very dedicated" simply because I'm not a poor little rich b*tch with money to burn!

Get something through your thick skull pal. Not every F1 fan is rich. Not every F1 fan has money to just throw away.

I didn't go to the race this year for the first time in 4 years because I could not afford it. Did I want to be there more than anything? Absolutely. Sitting at home killed me.

I don't buy new RBR/MW merchandise every year because I cannot afford it. Does this make me less of a fan of MW if I don't have his latest t-shirt?

I don't have Foxtel because it's f*cking expensive and I absolutely cannot afford it. Are you saying that if F1 went to Foxtel and I could not afford it, I am not a fan of F1 at all?

Get out of your little ivory tower and realise that not everyone in this world is as super-priveliged as you seem to be.

I understand your frustration, but if F1 went to paytv, maybe instead of going to the race, the money that WOULD be spent there, would cover your 12 month subscription to Foxtel, which it probably would if all you'd watch is F1 on a sports package. I think, most people don't like the idea of Foxtel so don't really actually look into it enough, cheaper packages are there, and I think the point oldmate is putting accross is, if F1 is your passion, and it goes paytv, you will find a way to pay for it, I know I would. If I had to go and deliver pizzas to cover the foxtel bill I'd do it. Luckily for me we have our Foxtel, bigpond and telstra home phone all bundles together for a good deal, so in a way I'm being selfish when I say I long for the day Foxtel gets the rights again, but at the same time, as a frustrated viewer for 17 years, I am just plain over it. Even a compromise deal, all FP's will be shown live on foxtel, with Quali and Race Live on ONE or something with a delayed race on Fox by 30mins or so but without ad breaks. I don't know, there's people employed to make those decisions, but nobody has to worry about Fox going Paytv til 2015 do they?

I dont know whats worse build up for the AFL grand final coverage or build up for the Australian Grand Prix coverage. When I saw them crossing to the breakfast team and Kathryn Robinson complaining to Greg Rust not to mention anything technical about F1 I did a mega facepalm it was already bad enough we had to sit through that garbage crossover to the breakfast team I would've been glad if she just flew out of Australia along with her obsession with Jenson Button I'm sure no one from Australia will complain if the U.K takes her

I wont comment on the celebrities though since the AFL has also done that too don't know too much about the AFL grand final build up apart from the breakfast show they do every grand final morning

Anyone suggesting that it go to pay TV and improve needs to remember that we've got 2, maybe 3 journalists in Australia who've got any sort of idea of the sport (and can convey it..) - we've not got a single producer/director who does - so you're screwed whatever way you choose. Coverage will improve when the producers/director understand the sport - they need to attend races regularly - watch the pros - and gain some experience.. in the experience.

it's about 3 dollars a day for foxtel. so lol @ the ivory tower comment. give up your daily coffee or whatever, no sympathy from me.

$3 a day is typical marketing speak from Foxtel, in reality its $1,000 a year .. minimum, with no guarantee that F1 would be included in the basic sports package. Thats not an insignificant amount. Its pretty rude to thumb your nose at people saying they cant justify that money on the idiot box.

Also, if we're going to play the 'im a real fan becuase' game .... a real fan should feel sorry for another fan who is massively passionate about the sport but wouldnt be able to watch it. A real fan would want to share thier passion with as many as possible, not treat it like the exclusivity of it is a badge of honour.

foxtel F1 would be BskyB coverage wholesale - no need for local presenters or producers except perhaps for studio intros. sounds good to me.

mark my words, if melbourne gives up the GP after 2015 and no other australian city successfully bids for it - perth would be perfect, but that's another thread - then FTA coverage will go too. and as foxtel basic + sport is $61 per month (quite literally $2 per day), you'll find people will take the plunge.

edit: i quoted the $3 per day for my current spend but that and $1000 per year are both correct figures - it's a question of perspective. it's like a bottle of wine a week is $20 a pop, $3 a day or $1000 per year. as i understand, the consensus here is that the coverage will suck for as long as it's on FTA and if you really want to see an improvement then you'll have to pay for it.

I dunno about Foxtel, the sport may suffer and it may not but AUS still has a lot to offer on FTA so paying $90 a month for TV makes little sense right now. Over here EVERYONE has pay tv, FTA is virtually non existent. It's absolutely outrageous that i need to drop $60 a month and still get hammered with ads. They tweak the packages too in order to screw you. To get TSN i am effectively paying $10 a month because it's packaged with a bunch of shite i do not need.

i could barely survive with FTA - mostly SBS, ABC and digital, mainstream commercial is mostly unwatchable and an insult to the intellect - but that would create marital discord to say the least. with cable, i can watch everything i want and keep the missus happy. also, money saved watching quality TV on weekend nights more than pays for the service.

While the light entertainment program that aired over the weekend (which was interrupted by cars going round) sucked harder than pretty much anything ive seen on tv (and I've watched Crossroads) I dont think the coverage generally sucks.

$3 a day is typical marketing speak from Foxtel, in reality its $1,000 a year .. minimum, with no guarantee that F1 would be included in the basic sports package. Thats not an insignificant amount. Its pretty rude to thumb your nose at people saying they cant justify that money on the idiot box.

alright, who cares how much it is, and whether people can afford it or not. it dosn't change the fact ten/one are not up to the job, and it clearly needs to go elsewhere.apologies for offending anyone with my dedicated fan comment, was a bit harsh in hindsight.

my main point is, pay tv is perfect for all live sport. no ads, and they pay the sport and the fans the respect it deserves. they don't see it as their own soap box to cross promote and use as their own personal billboard.

my main point is, pay tv is perfect for all live sport. no ads, and they pay the sport and the fans the respect it deserves. they don't see it as their own soap box to cross promote and use as their own personal billboard.

...and there's no reason that can't happen in Australia - even if a commercial station owns the rights.

Just in case anyone wants to quote the anti syphoning laws as a reason it can't happen - please read them and make yourself aware of what that law actually does.

alright, who cares how much it is, and whether people can afford it or not. it dosn't change the fact ten/one are not up to the job, and it clearly needs to go elsewhere.apologies for offending anyone with my dedicated fan comment, was a bit harsh in hindsight.

my main point is, pay tv is perfect for all live sport. no ads, and they pay the sport and the fans the respect it deserves. they don't see it as their own soap box to cross promote and use as their own personal billboard.

since OneHd doesn't show practice why won't they do a share with foxtel ? I would love the extra coverage ... I have to agree the ads were way to many and at the wrong time last weekend ! And honestly 3 bucks a day is not much .... just the sports on Foxtel is worth that much !

While the light entertainment program that aired over the weekend (which was interrupted by cars going round) sucked harder than pretty much anything ive seen on tv (and I've watched Crossroads) I dont think the coverage generally sucks.

Yup,

Also all you people realise Ten was showing their normal daily programs (like the breakie people from the Circle) from the track, that's why all those d grade celebs were being interviewed in the Qantas lounge where as they would of normally been on some Ten Set somewhere else... They never intended to use all 8hrs or whatever a day coverage as just purely motorsport related shit.. **** you guys are having a whine for getting all the F1 sessions live, and live coverage of the V8s/Cup cars..

Also all you people realise Ten was showing their normal daily programs (like the breakie people from the Circle) from the track, that's why all those d grade celebs were being interviewed in the Qantas lounge where as they would of normally been on some Ten Set somewhere else... They never intended to use all 8hrs or whatever a day coverage as just purely motorsport related shit.. **** you guys are having a whine for getting all the F1 sessions live, and live coverage of the V8s/Cup cars..

Obviously you weren't around when Channel 9 did the F1 coverage. Their coverage of F1 was absolutely atrocious for every race but, BUT, when the round was in Australia (Adelaide and then Melbourne) their full day coverage over Sat and Sun was far more professional and focused. As an F1 and motorsport fan it was enjoyable to watch over 2 days and it was on the main FTA channel - Nine didn't have another channel.

It should have been intended to be purely motorsport related shit because that is what they called it on the frigging TV guide.

It has been proven that the coverage of the event as opposed to just F1 can be done significantly better. Nothing precious. I don't see coverage of the Australian Open Tennis or the AFL Grand Final being done the way F1 has been over the weekend.

It has been proven that the coverage of the event as opposed to just F1 can be done significantly better. Nothing precious. I don't see coverage of the Australian Open Tennis or the AFL Grand Final being done the way F1 has been over the weekend.

haha you serious, every major event on every network in Australia gets packed full of crap cross promotion for their own network, what we saw was nothing new.. The whole lead up to the AFL GF is pure crap and just as many but slightly better b grade celebs..

I hate it all as much as the next man but I just didn't watch the crap and tuned in for the racing action.. works pretty well... No doubt they can do it better, but I doubt much will change as the network will always want to maximise their own self promotion to justify the massive amounts paid to get the rights...

haha you serious, every major event on every network in Australia gets packed full of crap cross promotion for their own network, what we saw was nothing new.. The whole lead up to the AFL GF is pure crap and just as many but slightly better b grade celebs..

I am dead serious. Nothing even approaches how poorly the last weekend was handled by Ten. The Qantas Lounge has to be the height of cheesiness on Australian TV.

I hate it all as much as the next man but I just didn't watch the crap and tuned in for the racing action.. works pretty well... No doubt they can do it better, but I doubt much will change as the network will always want to maximise their own self promotion to justify the massive amounts paid to get the rights...

I recorded the weekend's coverage and just fast forwarded the crap parts. Even doing that I couldn't help but notice how shit it was even if I didn't have to sit through it to wait for FP/Q/Race to start.

The "we look forward to showing you the rest of the post qualifying press conference tomorrow"* part after Lewis had uttered one sentence in the Post Q PC when I watched my recording (after being at the track on Sat) nearly had me thrown the remote at my TV.

I doubt anything is going to change. But that has nothing to do with making criticisms - especially when they are well deserved.

Because of the diabolical coverage, I was actually glad that I was working during the weekend so I could FF all the shit - and there was a lot of it - to get to the actual parts of the race weekend that I wanted to watch when I got home each afternoon.

haha you serious, every major event on every network in Australia gets packed full of crap cross promotion for their own network, what we saw was nothing new.. The whole lead up to the AFL GF is pure crap and just as many but slightly better b grade celebs..

so you agree then that sport does not belong on FTA

and yes, the Aus GP is one of our biggest sporting event of the year, it deserves more than 8 hours.

Uninterrupted coverage of every safety car lap, followed by a series of lengthy commercial breaks when the racing commenced didn't go down well with most.

I can understand the ads and all but what I can't figure out is why they don't cross to an ad as soon as the safety car comes out. Network TEN clearly must think the viewers enjoy seeing the safety car laps than the actual racing laps

I can understand the ads and all but what I can't figure out is why they don't cross to an ad as soon as the safety car comes out. Network TEN clearly must think the viewers enjoy seeing the safety car laps than the actual racing laps

Thats actually my biggest problem, the timing.

The amount of ads is regulated, if you have a problem with that amount then lobby the FreeTV people or whoever, but Channel 10 did nothing wrong with the amounts, jus the timing. Not usually as noticable in other live sports because theres stoppages (footy, cricket etc)

Because you are already paying for Foxtel. Leaving aside what packages people have got and whether the inclusion of F1 would necessitate people to pay extra (quite likely to be fair), if F1 goes to Foxtel it won't make a difference to you guys - and that obviously gives you a greater incentive to be pinning for it to happen.

But people not already on Foxtel will have to come up with the money to pay for it if that scenario plays out and they want to watch F1.

What a load of steaming shit. So we're advantaged even though were already forking out for Foxtel? You lot need to quit your whinging, save your pennies and if F1 goes Pay Tv and you want to watch it so badly then find a way, as I said earlier, if I had to go and deliver pizzas at night just to afford the Foxtel bill, i would, and if you guys don't think you're willing to do that or anything else for that matter then maybe F1 isn't for you, and whinging about it will make you feel better instead.

What a load of steaming shit. So we're advantaged even though were already forking out for Foxtel? You lot need to quit your whinging, save your pennies and if F1 goes Pay Tv and you want to watch it so badly then find a way, as I said earlier, if I had to go and deliver pizzas at night just to afford the Foxtel bill, i would, and if you guys don't think you're willing to do that or anything else for that matter then maybe F1 isn't for you, and whinging about it will make it better.

Calm down. Nobody said you are advantaged.

I have been paying $100 plus a month on Foxtel for the last 6 years.

If you want to know what a load of steaming shit is you can read your own post - whinging about people whinging. LOL.

What a load of steaming shit. So we're advantaged even though were already forking out for Foxtel? You lot need to quit your whinging, save your pennies and if F1 goes Pay Tv and you want to watch it so badly then find a way, as I said earlier, if I had to go and deliver pizzas at night just to afford the Foxtel bill, i would, and if you guys don't think you're willing to do that or anything else for that matter then maybe F1 isn't for you, and whinging about it will make you feel better instead.

jesus f*cking christ ... i'll type slowly so you can follow:

You already pay for foxtelany new content they bring on you get as a bonus

some people dont pay for foxtelif they're attracted to the new bonus content, they have to find extra money.

do you need me to repeat that?

And why oh why is there this cockheaded attitude of 'im a bigger fan than you becuase I can/will pay for it'